Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology [Paperback]

Loren Coleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2002

This true story of Texas millionaire Tom Slick’s quest for the Abominable Snowman and other cryptids—creatures unknown to science—reveals a life made for the movies. Fascinating stories of Slick's early brushes with adventure such as his stepfather’s abduction by George “Machine Gun” Kelly in 1933 and his creation of a research facility near Loch Ness are followed by his later expeditions into Nepal and the Pacific Northwest in search of the yeti and its counterpart, the Sasquatch. The story of Slick’s amazing, fanatic, and driven search for the stuff of legends takes readers on a whirlwind journey from the dense temperate rainforests of Washington State to the icy peaks of the Himalayas—and shows that sometimes cryptids leave the halls of the imagination and are found and captured, as proved by the giant panda and the Komodo dragon, leaving readers to wonder what more there is to be discovered.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Coleman did an excellent job on this book! Very well written and informative."  —The Lebanon Daily Record

About the Author

Loren Coleman is the world's leading cryptozoologist and has done fieldwork, research, and writing about undiscovered animals for the last 41 years. He has been an on- and off-camera consultant for NBC’s Unsolved Mysteries, A&E's Ancient Mysteries, the History Channel's In Search of History, and the Discovery Channel's In the Unknown. He is the author of Suicide Clusters, Cryptozoology A to Z, and Mysterious America. He lives in Portland, Maine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 177 pages
• Publisher: Linden Publishing (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941936740
• ISBN-13: 978-0941936743
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #876,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Welllll, it's ok, April 29, 2004

By 

R. Howell "boriskhan" (Medford, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology (Paperback)

I just expected a little more than this. I've read some of Coleman's other books and this one just isn't up to snuff. It's certainly readable and should be added to someone's library if they are interested in yeti, bigfoot, or cryptozoology in general. The book is titled for Tom Slick but Bernard Heuvelman gets ample coverage in this also. I wish there was more on Slick's activities regarding the sasquatch. The coverage of the yeti expeditions was the same basic coverage you can get in nearly any book on the subject. I know Coleman is a capable writer and researcher, and I was expecting better than this.

I've read and enjoyed other biographies much more than this. I also mention the numerous minor typos throughout the book, simple little things that should have been checked and caught in the editing process (there are quite a number of times there is a 'hut' or 'he' when it was supposed to be 'but' and 'be') but those are disregardable (by no means is my grammer or spelling perfect). There were also several occassions while reading this biography of Tom Slick in which I forgot the book was about Slick because of sideline stories or wandering off topic that didn't seem directly (or indirectly) involving Slick.

Mr. Coleman, best wishes but you are better than this.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars interesting on all fronts, July 12, 2003

By 

tabitca - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology (Paperback)

The book starts off with the background to Tom Slick's family, which in itself was entertaining ,and then on to Tom's expeditions. The book, although a true story, reads like an adventure novel. I'm only sad Tom Slick is no longer with us as I think he is a great loss to the scientific community ,with his zest for investigating the usual. The ending of the book and the stories of involvement with the CIA gave great food for thought and I won't spoil anyone's enjoyment of the book by going into more detail.I would recommend this book to anyone, whether a cryptozoologist or not, as it entertains as well as informs. I emailed the author to say how much I enjoyed the book and was delighted to receive a reply.This is a book that deserves to be read.

5.0 out of 5 stars A great biography, March 22, 2011

By 

J. Wells - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tom Slick: True Life Encounters in Cryptozoology (Paperback)

If you're looking for the typical cryptozoology book, one full of quick anecdotes and numerous sighting reports and scary stories, you may want to pick up one of Loren's other books focusing on general oddities or specific monster types. They are among the best of the genre.
If, however, you're interested in the biography of a true American character, a businessman, an adventurer, and an iconoclast, this is the book for you. Yes, you'll also be interested if you happen to want to know what drove one of the men responsible for fueling the western fascination with the Yeti. But "Tom Slick" is a good read no matter how you feel about hairy hominids. I can't recommend it enough.